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Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, Vol. 1 by Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)

by ciesse

Abigail Adams lived the American Revolution as the wife of one of its central figures--John Adams. Her family correspondence, published along with a memoir by her grandson, Charles Francis Adams, brings that era into eloquent focus. What was it like to hear the cannon's roar from your window? to face pestilence? food shortages? rampant inflation? devalued coinage? to raise four children alone--and earn the money to keep your household afloat, while your husband was engaged in politics and diplomacy miles and oceans away . . . for years at a time? It's all there in her private letters, letters that were never meant for public eyes, letters that she repeatedly asked to be burned!Writing to her husband, Abigail expressed anguish at nearby fighting: June 18, 1775, "Charlestown is laid in ashes . . . How many have fallen we know not. The constant roar of the cannon is so distressing, that we cannot eat, drink, or sleep." Yet, she displayed constant fortitude: August 5, 1777, "It